dunce

See also: dūncè

English

Etymology

1530, named after John Duns Scotus (circa 1265–1308).

Scotus was ironically a well-known Scottish thinker. His followers, however, opposed the philosophers of the Renaissance, and thus "dunce" was first used to describe someone rejecting new knowledge in 1530; later, any stupid person.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dʌns/
• Rhymes: -ʌns

Noun

dunce (plural dunces)

1. An unintelligent person; an idiot.
   • 1855, Robert Browning, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”, XXX:

     [...] Dunce, / Dotard, a-dozing at the very nonce, / After a life spent training for the sight!

Derived terms

• dunce cap
• duncedom
• dunce hat
• duncehood
• duncelike
• duncely
• duncish/dunceish

Translations

One backward in book learning

• Crimean Tatar: cail
• Esperanto: malklerulo
• Finnish: aasi (fi), typerys (fi), tyhmä (fi)
• French: cancre (fr) m or f
• Galician: túzaro (gl) m, bestello m, trepeiro m, tarulo m, tamarugo m, rude m
• Icelandic: tossi m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: barcala m, bārō m
• Polish: nieuk (pl) m
• Russian: не́уч (ru) m (néuč)
• Swedish: dumhuvud (sv), dummerjöns (sv)
• Welsh: dỳns m, twpsyn m, penbwl (cy) m